Good O' Boy Roundup Report - March, 1996

12.1991

Three attendees at the 1991 Roundup reported racist conduct. Although approximately 525 persons attended, it appears that the number of actual registrants declined from the previous year. New methods of identifying and controlling outside guests meant that, for the first time since the Roundup's inception, the number of total participants declined from the previous year. We identified 342 attendees, including 10 DOJ employees, 3 of whom had also attended the 1990 Roundup. OIG interviewed 170 attendees either in person or by telephone and reviewed the statements of 29 additional attendees who were interviewed by other agencies. Several Native Americans, one Filipino, and one Hispanic FBI agent attended the 1991 Roundup. The FBI agent felt unwelcome at the Roundup, which he attributed to his ethnicity and being from "the north," and decided not to return. The other minority attendees attended more than one Roundup.

The Redneck of the Year winner was a Canadian who marched around on stage dressed up in army fatigues and apparently gave humorous speeches. He was also elected president of the Roundup. The winner of the Ugliest Good O' Boy was a Fort Lauderdale police officer who dressed as a homeless person and pretended to eat excrement he had pulled out from his trousers; in reality it was a wad of chewing tobacco. [/ Rightmyer recalled a civilian in an unspecified year performing a similar skit for the Redneck of the Year contest but pulling a Baby Ruth candy bar instead of a wad of chewing tobacco out of his trousers. ] The official T-shirt had a Good O' Boy holding an oar inscribed "Big Stick" and a large rifle. It exhorted "Kick Butt." The shirt was a tribute to an ATF agent who had served in Desert Storm.

1991 T-shirt (front)
Fig. 23

1991 T-shirt (back)
Fig. 24

In or about 1991, the Roundup organizers imposed new controls on attendees requiring them to wear a wristband identifying themselves as official registrants. Rightmyer divided attendees into three categories: Good O' Boys, local law enforcement, and guests. These last two categories were issued different colored wristbands. Anyone without a wristband was asked to leave. Another new rule prohibited the use of video cameras. [ / Rightmyer said two persons had video cameras at the 1990 Roundup. We do not know who, and Rightmyer could not recall who, other than Hayward, had a video camera. We did not hear from anyone else of a second video from 1990. Rightmyer claimed the rule had nothing to do with the content of the Hayward video from 1990. As Hayward's video was not made public until four years later, there is no reason to believe Rightmyer knew that Hayward had videotaped the sign. Despite this alleged ban, we were able to obtain a video taken in 1994. During portions of that video, however, people can be heard to mention that the person should not be videotaping. ] Rightmyer testified that people had complained about the presence of video cameras at the 1990 Roundup. He also said that using video cameras conflicted with another Roundup rule: "What goes on at the Roundup stays there." His rationale was that filming many "men acting like boys" would lead to embarrassment and that people wanted to relax and "let their hair down" without fear that outsiders would see their antics.